Recently a friend and I were asked to judge a chili cooking contest. Above all things is chili and I could not imagine a better suited contest for me to judge. However there was something along the lines of dread in the forefront of my mind while sitting in a chair waiting for instructions. What if these were bad? What if they were so spicy they numbed my tongue? All of these things haunted me but at the same time I was excited once they closed the judges into the back room with 10 different versions of this delicious stew.
Armed with a Styrofoam bowl and plastic spoon for eating, a purple crayola marker and Styrofoam plate to make notes on as well as my score card I was ready to begin.
We decided (much to my chagrin) to start with the "HOT" category. My fellow judges were someone who's husband was a chef, a firefighter who loved chili, myself and a friend. As the lid was peeled back from #1 we hovered over the Tupperware and took a whiff. It didn't smell too spicy.. This chili was made with black beans, red beans, cubed stew meat and a tomato base. Perhaps there were some jalapenos diced up and thrown into it. With much expectation for a fantastic flavor we dug in.. one spoonful to each of the 4 judges. As we chewed we watched each others reactions waiting for the burn. Alas we were much disappointed. "Maybe it was mislabeled?", we asked each other... but it didn't matter. All we could do was mark down what we thought on our notes. My notes read -'A decent meaty flavor, acidic tomato base needs sugar - a mild chili to say the least.' Once finished we rinsed out our bowls in an effort to save the environment and moved on to #2. As we peeled back the lid of the Tupperware we were instantly assaulted by what I can only describe as "the sting". "Habeneros live here!", it exclaimed! And I have to admit that although my tolerance for heat is pretty high that first bite knocked me out of my socks. It took a second for the heat to introduce itself but when it did we were all dancing around the kitchen exclaiming to whoever could hear that this was, in fact, appropriately labeled as a HOT chili. Later we would learn that the name of this chili was, Aftershock. It mainly consisted of ground beef, an assortment of beans, tomato and habenero pepper. Brown sugar very subtly said hello and then hid away under the heat once it was in the back of the mouth. Thanking whoever had laid out the saltines we dug right in... once we began to chew these pasty morsels from heaven the heat began to subside although even now I will not forget the tingle of the lips, the heat tip toeing on the roof of the mouth and resting on the sides of the tongue. The heat stuck with us for another three chili's. Deciding we should throw away the bowls after being assaulted by this molten stew we armed ourselves with clean utensils and with expectation of fire we peeled back the lid of #5.
Chili #5 smelled a little less potent and with eager mouths we dug in. This chili was a little soupier, again with a tomato base and the beginning stages of molasses and brown sugar. Still burning from #2 I would have to say that our heat sensors were inaccurate. Nonetheless this ground beef chili would not get rave reviews from any of the 4 of us. In fact we were disappointed in its lack of flavor and intensity.
I took a swig of my Pepsi and wiped out the bowl with a paper towel and readied myself for the next bowl. On to #8... Lifting the lid was intoxicating. First came the smell of molasses strong and silky smooth. Then came the deep richness of a higher fat ground beef and the sharp biting of red pepper flakes. As we dipped our spoons I think we all expected a good flavor but a let down as most of the others had been not very HOT. So we take a bite and we're all standing there thinking, hey... this is pretty good.. then all of a sudden this heat comes around the corner out of no where taking its sweet time crawling up the tongue. This is what we in the chili eating world refer to as a slow burn. And man, this is a s-l-o-w BURN. Pretty good flavor there as well.
#9 turned out to be a little more like bean dip, much to our dismay, and the flavor missed the mark. Obviously a hint of cumin biting on the tail end but all in all felt like it should have been on a taco or a fajita or something. Didn't even hit the chili mark in my book.
So that was all for the spicy chili's. 5 chili options and only two did I really consider spicy at all.
Rankings for HOT chili - First place goes to #2, Aftershock
Second place goes to #8, we'll refer to this as Slow Burn chili
Third was pretty randomly chosen, more for flavor than heat. #1
Next we move on to the "Exotic Chili". Thank goodness there are only two.
#11 The first chili when opened looks normal- almost like ground beef but the meat seems finer. Could this perhaps be ground pork? No, in fact, this is ground turkey. With the same flavors of tomato, bean, molasses. This flavor is deeper, more intense, and by-golly I would eat a whole bowl of this! A little lacking in the heat but hey, all in all this is the best one yet!
#12 Opening this one lets out a puff of earthy smelling steam. Something is different here. Luckily we know that this meat is venison. Ground up venison, tomato, beans, molasses. The flavor is what I can only describe as sweet and earthy. NOT a traditional taste for chili by any means fitting the Exotic category well. All in all I'm not a fan so this gets the number two spot.
Finally we move on to the traditional chili's. I can't begin to tell you what any of them tasted like because they were all forgettable. Boring. The one that won first place only got it because we had to pick one with the "best" flavor and that best suited the bill. But it was pretty much like the rest. Tomato based, heavily tomatoed should I say... sweet just a little bit, a touch of molasses and a bit of ground beef and beans.
Second place got there because this person was the only one to serve their chili with garnishes. Cheese and red onions make this chili stand out a little and certainly it's worthy of second place.
Third place was a randomly chosen number. I would have to say that these chili's were a little disappointing.
After all the tasting we went on to taste and judge some desserts that were, for a lack of better verbiage, really crappy. In the end I went back for a bowl of #11 and a piece of lemon cream pie.
So here's my version of chili. It's my personal taste and I love it. Pretty easy, too.
Enjoy. xo
Ms. Mystery's Chainsaw Chili
Prep Time: 30 Min Cook Time: 2 1/2 - 3 hours Serves 10 - 12
Ingredients:(You absolutely can use dried beans that you have cooked yourself- makes it much tastier! For all intents and purposes this is the "Faster" version.)
2 (28-30 ounce) cans plain tomato sauce
2 (28-30 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes
2 cups diced onion
2 Tbsp. onion powder
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped garlic
1 1/2 lbs bacon, diced
2 lbs medium or spicy sausage
3 lbs ground beef
1/2 cup bottle hickory barbecue sauce
1/8 tsp liquid smoke
1 cup dark lager beer (Sam Adam's is my preference)
1/2 cup chili powder
4 (15.25 oz) cans kidney beans - rinsed and drained
1 (15.25 oz) can pinto beans - rinsed and drained
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 Tbsp. Italian Seasonings
1 tsp. Cumin (optional)
Brown sugar to taste.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Directions
In a large stock pot over Medium-High heat brown your bacon, sausage and ground beef. Once this is browned remove with slotted spoon and place in bowl. Drain half of the grease, keeping the other half in the pot. Add your diced onion and cook until it is golden in color (caramelized) then add beans and garlic,. Cook 3 minutes being careful not to burn your garlic. Add the 2 beef bouillon cubes, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, barbecue sauce, liquid smoke, beer, onion powder, chili powder, Italian seasoning, cumin (optional). Reduce this liquid by one third over medium heat. Once the liquid is reduced by one third add bacon, sausage, ground beef and stir to combine. Cook covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste. Add brown sugar to taste. Cook until it reaches desired consistency. For me the total cooking process takes close to 3 hours.
I like my chili thick and not too sweet.
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